Journey to Estonia…

I took a ship (called the Baltic Queen) from Stockholm to Tallinn (Estonia) which was actually quite nice. It was a 16-hour trip in a tiny cabin of 4 but there were only 3 of us which was good as it would've been a tight squeeze. Met a Scottish girl in my cabin who was lovely, so we talked and watched movies until we were tired and ready for bed. Slept until the loud PA made an announcement about some buffet breakfast and 20% off perfumes! Grrr…

So I arrived in Tallinn in Estonia in one piece and made a new friend along the way. Maarja came to pick me up and we went to visit her university (Tallinn University of Technology). It's a pretty nice and big university. Oh and we caught the trolley there. It's a transport system that I have never seen before. Picture this… if a bus were to have sex with a tram a trolley would be born. Yes it was a tram like vehicle but with tyre wheels. There were also trams and buses throughout the city.

Anyways so we went into the city centre and dropped my bags off at Maarja's aunt's flower shop and then went to see the sights. I had 5 days in Estonia all up. 4 days in Tallinn and 1 day in Tartu (2.5 hours away from Tallinn). I stayed with Kadri at her new apartment just 25 mins walk from the city centre and met with Maarja (in between her uni schedule) during the day. Kadri started her new job this week so she was working all the days. The unfortunate thing though is both Kadri and Maarja fell sick while I was there but they were still well enough to take me around the city. Thanks guys!

Well I saw pretty much all the main sights of Tallinn including the Old Town (beautiful medieval and old buildings), City Walls, climbed St. Olav's Church (to see the great view of Tallinn), Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Russian church almost a replicate of St. Petersburg's Church) and of course Parliament. The front side of Parliament was painted an ugly pink colour but once you walked around the back of it it was a gorgeous medieval building. So weird but pretty awesome. Oh and the view of Tallinn at the top of St. Olav's Church was a funny sight. You saw a great landscape of beautiful old buildings and in the middle of it all were some modern high-rise buildings. It just didn't really fit in; I wanted to just pluck them out.

Anywho other sights I saw were Kadriorg Park where the President's Palace laid, the KUMU Art Museum (HUGE!), Russalka (an angel monument in memory of the lives that were lost from a shipwreck), beach where we met a beautiful and really sweet Russian lady that just came up to us and started talking. Of course I had no idea what she was saying as she was speaking in Russian but Maarja attempted to communicate with her with little Russian she knew. It really makes your day when you meet people like that. Took some random photos at the beach and then went to see the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. I walked up the 82 steps, did handstands and then jumped the rest of the way down. It's a huge place, an outdoor concert arena built in 1959. The major event held here is the Estonian Song and Dance Celebration held every 5 years.

So yea I pretty much covered all of Tallinn. I spent one day in Tartu with Kadri. She thought she had a class there but when we got there and went to the university we discovered that her class didn't start til next week and the school forgot to inform the students. But all was good Kadri showed me all around town. The Town Hall Square was so beautiful, lined with small cafes, a leaning building like the leaning tower of Pisa, the kissing students fountain and many people. This town is a uni town so there are students everywhere you look. The main university is an amazingly beautiful white classical building (built from 1804-1809) surrounded by students all around it. We also ventured up the kissing mountain where couples go. There's this tradition in Estonia where when you get married you place a padlock somewhere with your names on it, it's quite sweet. So sometimes you're walking around and you'll see some padlocks on a bridge or somewhere. On this kissing mountain there were heaps of padlocks of all colours and sizes. We took a walk around the Botanical Garden where I took lots of flower photos and we also saw many bridges including the Angel, Devil, Freedom, Market and Stone Arched Bridge. We pretty much saw all of Tartu in a day. Later caught up with Fenella (Scottish girl I met on the ferry to Tallinn who works in Tartu as a ballerina) for a coffee and to relax our tired legs.

You know if it wasn't for Kadri and Maarja I would never have thought to visit Estonia (thank you Ollerup). I'm so glad I did cos it is such a beautiful country (and cheap for Aussies too). Didn't manage to visit the islands where Kadri and Maarja are from but I guess that gives me an excuse to come back.

Next stop… Slovenia!